The week in review

Biggest discovery: UVA scientists are part of a Large Hadron Collider team in Europe that finds what may be the Higgs boson– a.k.a. the "God particle"– believed to give mass to every other particle in existence and essential to the formation of the universe.

Grimmest headline: "DEQ reports pollution 'everywhere we look'" from a Daily Progress story on an additional 840 miles of streams and rivers, 100 acres of lakes, and two square miles of estuaries added to Virginia's impaired waters list. And a StreamWatch study finds that about 70 percent of Rivanna streams do not meet state clean water standards.

Latest extreme weather casualty: A contractor in his 40s from Tennessee working with Comcast July 7– a day in which the temperature reached 105 degrees– in the Glenaire neighborhood in Ivy complains to his partner that the heat is really bothering him around 7pm and goes to sit and drink water. He disappears, and an Albemarle Sheriff's search and rescue volunteer finds him dead around 10pm under a bush in a resident's yard. There were no signs of foul play.

Longest wait for electricity: Esmont still has 950 households without power July 8– nine days after the June 29 derecho. Appalachian Power whittles that number down to 570 by noon July 9 and to 189 that evening.

Perennial question after a major power loss: Why aren't the electric lines buried? City councilors Kristin Szakos and Dede Smith ask; Dominion issues its standard reply: It would cost billions.

Unanswered question: How much did businesses and individuals lose in the most recent outage?

Worst place to try to take a load off: Five benches are removed from Central Place on the Downtown Mall because a certain drunken, profanity-spewing, ready-to-brawl, and aggressive-panhandling segment of the population was creating a sense of unease among business owners and patrons, Graham Moomaw reports in the DP.

Worst mud-bogging accident: Carol Dennis "Chuck" Engel Jr., 45, of Goochland County dies at an event on Haislip Farm in Fluvanna July 7. According to the Fluvanna County Sheriff's Office, Engel had finished a run, veered off course, and overturned into a nearby pond. Officials suspect a medical condition or mechanical malfunction caused the experienced driver to lose control of his pickup.

Saddest loss to UVA athletics: Orthopedic surgeon Frank McCue, a.k.a. "Doc," who ran UVA's sports medicine program for more than 40 years, dies July 8 at age 82.

Saddest loss to architecture: Jay Dalgliesh, of Dalgliesh, Gilpin, and Paxton, best known for his historic renovations and homes tailored for client and location, dies July 5.

Biggest donor on UVA's Board of Visitors: John L. Nau III has written checks totaling more than $11.5 million, according to Ted Strong in the DP.

Biggest riprap flap: Charlottesville says Stonefield developer Edens is in violation of its erosion and sedimentation permit for not putting rocks– the riprap– on both sides of a 72-inch stormwater drainage pipe that crosses land owned by the U.S. Post Office, Pepsi, and Seminole Square before unplugging the pipe. Edens put riprap on the postal land, but contends it's not responsible for installing riprap on land it doesn't control and is appealing the violation at a Planing Commission hearing July 10. Charlottesville Tomorrow has the story.

Best national appearance by a local photographer: Billy Hunt will be on NBC's Today show Sunday, July 15, with his Screamotron 3000– a converted boombox that takes a picture when you scream.

Best get: The Dalai Lama makes his third visit to Charlottesville October 11 (here previously in 1979 and again 1998). He will speak at a medical conference at the Paramount Theater and to the public at nTelos Wireless Pavilion.